


"buncha garbo"

by cxbedits



Series: "buncha garbo" [1]
Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Comfort, CrankGameplays - Freeform, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Ethan Nestor - Freeform, Family, Family Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Mark Fischbach - Freeform, Markiplier - Freeform, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Other, Platonic Crankiplier, Platonic Ethamyplier, Protective Mark Fischbach, Soft Ethan Nestor, Unus Annus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-13 23:54:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,353
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29037420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cxbedits/pseuds/cxbedits
Summary: hi hello yes author here. this takes place in the you're welcome tour era, HOWEVER we are going to pretend that, stay with me here, mark is ethan's godfather and mark is twenty eight and ethan is fifteen, mark has custody over ethan because ethan's parents passed away when he was young and mark was a friend of ethan's dad. so basically ethan is fifteen and mark is his godfather. you catch all that? good. happy reading!!
Relationships: Mark Fischbach & Amy Nelson & Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor, Mark Fischbach & Ethan Nestor & Tyler Scheid, Mark Fischbach/Amy Nelson
Series: "buncha garbo" [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130249
Comments: 13
Kudos: 50





	1. what the f*ck is a triangle

half of the bus erupted with laughter as ethan pretended to fight mark, who wanted absolutely nothing to do with ethan's nonsense. the youngest of the two playfully put his fists up, amused with the amount of attention he was recieving. mark pretended to take offense of everyone who was giggling, "stop encouraging him!!" this caused bob, wade, and tyler to laugh harder.

mark began to turn and walk down the bus aisle, heading to his bunk. "you scared? you're scared." ethan concluded and followed, pushing his authoritive figure's metaphorical buttons. mark stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly, "no, no ethan i'm not scared, but it's 11pm, and you still have school work to do." mark released a breath. his tone wasn't serious, he was obviously messing around. however, the high school sophmore did, in fact, have school work to finish before the next night's show. ethan let out a whine, "man, do i have to? it's so- it's so much and it's so late-... and i have to run the, the... the lines for tomorrow's show, you know? and we'll be at the hotel soon so i can't." he found himself attempting to find an excuse. geez, he tried joking as much as possible but boy he did not want to do his school work. mark finished shoving random shit into his duffel bag and looked at ethan, smiling warmly, like a bonfire, "i will help you. hopefully this way you'll get done faster. go ahead, pull out your... whatever, and find a spot on the couch, i'll be there in a second i have to piss." ethan groaned and nodded, walking towards the couches once again.

"hey, where's my math notebook?... oh, amy, will you hand me that?" ethan looked over the table and pointed towards a red composition book containing lined paper. "yeah eth, of course, here you go." amy reached past her pile of papers and work related items to hand it to him. "thanks." ethan thanked her blankly, not exactly all that thankful. math was the absolute worst, especially after a full nine hours of working and a long night of running back and forth on stage doing improv for three hours straight. he wasn't 100% sure he'd eaten anything that day either, so his mind hadn't been quite perked up and active.

"okay, what've we got here?" mark questioned, plopping himself down next to ethan and scanning his eyes over the younger boy's school work, "uhm... triangle formulas and some sort of fuckin' equations." ethan rambled, losing his train of thought while gathering all of the information at once. however, he was snapped out of his daze when mark stood up and began to walk off.

"nope." he stated boldly, struting himself over to the overhead cabnit and grabbing a can of that sparkling water he liked so much. tyler cracked up at mark's sarcasm, "what do you mean nope? you're not going to help him?" this caused bob and wade to snicker as well. ethan shifted his weight towards his godfather, "hey yeah wait just a second."

"i meant exactly that: nope. i'm not dealing with that bullshit this late at night. i'm not in school anymore, i barely even remember what the fuck a triangle is." mark asseveratly scoffed, clearly goofing around. ethan wheezed at this, pulling his hands against his face, barely able to breathe. wade huffed and scratched his beard, "honestly, ethan, just do it tomorrow, man. i doubt that anyone wants to help with that right now."

mark semi-yelled from across the bus, "what wade said," he walked back into the main area, "also i think we're about to pull into the hotel, everyone grab what you need for the night and just leave everything else here. i'm sure it'll be fine."

bob stood up, stretching his arms up, "does anyone know what the sleeping situation looks like tonight?" kathryn pulled out her phone and began to read off a note, "amy and i, 306. wade and molly, 308. bob and tyler, 312. ethan and mark, 316." she finished, clicking off her phone and sliding it into her bag. "wait, why don't i get a room with amy? i'm her boyfriend, not you." mark teased to kathryn, causing amy to throw her fist against his arm gently.

"shut up, you know ethan would go ballistic without you there for him." amy pointed out, talking softly.

"yeah, yeah. i know."


	2. ethan, what's your favorite movie?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> skater boy!ethan nestor for you thirsty mfs.
> 
> also, CW // graphic blood mention

the team resided in chicago for their sixth show of the you're welcome tour, and it went great! mark and ethan stayed in the theater for a few minutes after the performance to help collect and clean all of the sound boards and music equipment, leaving amy, bob, wade, tyler and kathryn to head back to the bus and wait on the others. after they finished helping out, the two began to make their way back to their current way of transportation. no, it wasn't a far walk from the building, only a block or two. the air wasn't freezing, however, decently crisp enough to make sure their breaths turned to fog. ethan enjoyed this type of weather, but he enjoyed it even more this year seeing as he was spending it with friends and his godparents. he thrived on human interaction, it's just who he was. unfortunately, he hadn't gotten used to the whole "being stuck on a cramped bus with six other people for hours and sometimes days on end" thing.

as a result of this, ethan had picked up skateboarding out of bordem.

... already a bad start.

shockingly, he was actually really skilled at it! he was picking up on it pretty well. sure, he'd fallen a handful of times, gotten a few bumps and bruises, but hey! it was all part of learning, right? with that being said, he sometimes... overestimated his abilities, if you will.

mark strolled a few feet ahead of ethan as the younger boy rode his skateboard not too far behind, the wheels rolling softly against the sidewalk and making gentle clanking sounds whenever they hit a crack in the pavement. it wasn't completely dark outside, yes, it was 11pm, but orange-yellow light dimmed down from the streetlamps, along with the illumination shining from shops, restaurants, and billboards. therefore, ethan was obviously able to see. since he was granted the luxury of vision at this hour, he spotted something.

a rail.

immediately, ethan's ADD brain began to spin with ideas. thus, he picked up his skating device and jogged past mark, beginning to position his board on the metal pipe leading down a set of cement stairs. mark jerked his head over to the boy and stopped in his track, questioning him right away, "ethan?"

"ye... ep?" the boy quizzically asked, sticking his tongue out in the slightest, still mapping out how he was going to do this. mark shook his head in utter disapproval, "that's not going to turn out well for you," mark stopped to cross his arms, "you know that." he implied, raising an eyebrow and observing ethan, who clearly wasn't listening to him. "well, no, i don't know that. who knows? maybe i could be great at it," although, he's never rode a rail before, nor even practiced it, "or not, like i said, who knows?" ethan exclaimed. mark moved towards the younger one a bit, peering over the staircase to see how high it was. which, it wasn't. it was merely four steps leading down to the lower level of pavement. ethan had placed both of his feet on the board now, and could slide it at any moment.

mark raised both brows this time, stepping back from the stairs, "ethan, i'm serious. don't fucking do that." deep down, he knew ethan well enough to know he was going to end up doing it anyways. the teen looked between mark and the railing, then up at the bus, which was only a few steps down the road. and, without a second thought, he did it. obviously, i mean, nothing was going to stop him.

he should have listened to mark.

as soon as ethan lifted the skateboard off the ground, the balance wasn't... well... balanced. therefore, the board made it down the steps, but ethan didn't. his ankles intertwined with the bar, flinging him off onto a different section of the sidewalk. this resulted in his shins and knees skidding across the cement. and, of course, ethan tried to catch himself, mistakenly, with his hands. he sat upright immediately, hissing curses and trying to comprehend what just happened.

mark dropped his crossed arms and walked at a decently average pace over to his godson, sighing and crouching to ethan's level, "let me see, where'd you get hurt?" he tried staying as calm as possible. mark knew that if he began to freak out, ethan would as well. ethan clenched his jaw, pointing to his left leg, which mark hadn't even noticed, was smeared with blood and rock dust. mark mumbled something to himself, words that ethan couldn't quite make out. his ears flooded with ringing, far to distracting to hear anything. mark shifted his attention from the trembling leg, up to ethan's glossy green eyes filled with confused concern and shock.

"okay, eth, look at me. i'm going to go get the first aid kit, it's on the bus, and the bus is just right there, alright? i won't be gone long. i don't want you to stand up, so sit here. i'll be as quick as possible. you got that, bud?"

ethan's vision buzzed blurry, too focused on the pain caused by the tear that ran from his knee to the top of his shin, spilling blood. it wasn't too large, but large enough to be considered a gash. considering how much blood he was losing, he nodded loosely, dropping his neck to check the injury.

mark shut that down, "nope, hey, eth, look at me, listen at me ethan, i'll be right back. don't look at it okay? listen to me for once, please." mark offered, launching up from his position to run into the bus.

he reached the entrance after a few seconds, dashing down the isle to acquire the first aid kid he kept in his duffel."uhm, mark?" tyler looked up from his phone, "you alright, man? where's ethan?" he laughed out in confusion. mark scrambled through his bag frantically, attempting to catch a breath, "he... uh," he found the kit and rushed towards the doors, hoodie strings bouncing, "ethan got - he got hurt." mark stumbled over his dried lungs, hurrying back to ethan.

"he what?" amy stood up, following mark out the doors quickly. the other four shared a similar worried expression, but stayed on the tour bus.

ethan watched as his godparents practically left the ground under them to dust, hot footing the gravel. mark got to ethan again, barely noticing that amy had followed, "hey, hey eth, i know it's probably really hard to focus right now," mark sat cross legged next to his godson, hearing cars and taxis fly past as he clicked open the box filled with medical care items, "but can you - look at me - can you tell me how badly it hurts? 1 to 10?" he needed to know that ethan could talk, because if he could talk, then the pain wasn't excruciating, and if it wasn't excruciating, then it wasn't infected.

ethan sat with his legs spread in a V shape and palms facing the sky on his thighs, avoiding tampering with the miniature scrapes, "like," he cleared his throat, "like a 7 and a half, i've felt worse."

amy squatted on the other side of ethan, hand rubbing comforting circles on his back as mark cracked open a rectangle bottle of hydrogen peroxide. he twisted the cap off and looked at the boy, "ethan," mark placed his free hand welcoming - ly on ethan's clean leg, propping himself up on one knee to reach the gash, "i'm gonna need to rip the hole in your jeans, i need to tear it." he set the bottle down, awaiting a reply.

ethan sniffed inward whilst laughing through the throbbing agony, letting a first tear slip involuntarily, "awe, man, i liked these pants." mark chuckled, while amy gave a small but very genuine smile, "i know, i know dude." mark slipped his thumbs under the torn denim, ripping it all the way to the ankle, getting a better view of the cut. there was so much more red fluid flowing out then he anticipated. amy grimaced, shifting to sit on her bare knees, given, she was wearing shorts.

mark picked the bottle back up, positioning it over the injury, to which ethan instinctively responded by bending his leg up and away from mark.

the older man tsk'd, grabbing hold of ethan's ankle and benevolently flattening it back onto the sidewalk, "hey ethan?" ethan didn't answer, he only widened his eyes at mark, "ethan what's your favorite movie?" the boy cocked his head, truthfully oblivious to what was about to happen. easily distracted, he was. oh, boy, and mark knew this as a fact. the godfather stayed still on one knee, his head directed at ethan and hydrogen peroxide tilted ever so slightly above ethan's leg, "answer my question. what's your favorite movie, ethan?" he spoke in a dulcet manner.

"i don't know? probably die har - son of a bitch you fucking -" ethan hissed as he'd been interrupted by a prickly soreness that made his entire body spasm, thankfully, amy was there to ensure that he didn't hit the back of his head on the ground.

mark calmly twisted the bottle cap back onto the bottle and unraveled the bandages, glancing up at eth every few seconds, "you alright?" mark asked, more cockiness and sarcasm than worry waved in the way he talked.

ethan snarled angrily at mark, dusting off his hands and laying them on the cement as his entire mood flipped from physical discomfort to irritation. mark flickered his eyebrows while finalizing the bandage unravel, "can't get mad at me, ethan, remember that, now. i told you not to do it."

yes, ethan knew that mark was right. and he fucking despised it. he yanked his hurt leg back up once more, still feeling amy's soothing motions on his shoulder and upper back. "eth -"

"no, give me the wrap - y stuff. i can do it myself." ethan demanded, holding out his hand, expecting to be handed the medical wrap. mark squatted on both feet now, matching amy's position, "you need to let me do this. then we can get on the bus, we'll get your leg properly cleaned, and when we get to the hotel you can get a warm shower and rest, yeah? that sound good buddy?" mark articulated kindly, grasping ethan's ankle again with care and lifting it to wrap.

ethan winced at the sudden contact and ran his tongue between his lips, letting out a sound of approval. amy grinned and played with her godson's hair a bit, feeling glad now that he was calm.

mark tugged at the last strip of white bandage, attaching it and letting go of ethan's leg, "good, very good." mark smirked proudly and collected the contents of the first aid kit, "do you need help up?" mark and amy stood, adjusting to the new posture. mark looked down at ethan, who was still sitting with his knees bent up, "do you need help standing? or do you got it?" 

ethan sucked air through his teeth and hopped up on one leg, coming to a conclusion that he couldn't walk with both lower limbs, "uhm - no i can't."  
with that, mark moved ethan's arms around his own broadly set shoulders as amy grabbed ethan's skateboard from the bottom of the stairs.

eventually, all three of them had gotten back to the bus, wade was the first to look up from his seat, "hey! ethan are you okay? guys is he okay?" everyone else on the bus turned their attention towards the youngest as well, questioning him thoroughly.  
ethan plopped himself down on the main area's couch, resting his heavy head on amy's left, clothed shoulder, "i'm fine guys, i was just being an idiot and got carried away or whatever." he grumbled, immensely evident that he wasn't in the mood for conversation or loud environments at the moment. he was withal gathering how fast everything happened, and ultimately overwhelmed with the ache.

bob, kathryn, tyler and wade all looked at mark, almost as if they were waiting on him to explain what happened, "ethan... had a bit of a... tumble... but the good thing is that he's okay now - i think."

fast forward to the hotel, after ethan had showered and changed clothes into a sweatshirt and gym shorts, he passed out on top of the white bedding. the exhaustion kept him from getting under the covers.

well... at least his board wasn't broken. there's that, yeah?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hurt/comfort for you :3


	3. bad week

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hiya. author here. this is a vent.

mark understood that ethan had been having a stressful week. on monday, he'd gotten yelled at by a teacher for not paying attention, and then again the same day for fidgeting with his rubix cube in the middle of class. tuesday somehow managed to be worse, though. ethan failed a mathematics test that he studied hours on end for. this was bad for his grade, sure, but just as bad for his self-esteem. wednesday? he just felt drained. the fifteen year old didn't feel motivated and slept through most of his classes.

it was thursday night that ethan trudged down the stairs with a tear stained face, looking for his godparents, who were sitting cross-legged on each end of the couch. mark glanced up from his phone once he realized his godson was standing across from him, "you alright bud?"

and now ethan had his head rested on mark's chest and arms hugged around the older man's torso. amy placed a soothing hand on eth's thigh, circling her thumb on his knee. the boy was feeling overwhelmed and frustrated with how his past few days had gone, which led him to break down completely under mark's safe hold. mark gently caressed ethan's hair as the boy sobbed quietly into the man's chest, "let it out, eth. you're okay." mark declared tranquilly, feeling ethan's back shudder. he, along with amy, truthfully felt sorry for ethan, they knew how hard it was for him to focus, and if the boy wasn't doing something that he was interested in, it drained his social battery. so technically, it wasn't all ethan's fault. it's not like he could control when or when to not let his ADD spike.

once the older two had managed to, some how, calm ethan down, they both decided it would be best if the boy talked about how he was feeling rather than repressing it. mark knew all too well that repression could lead to worse behavior and poor life decisions. it's not the easy way out. ethan sat upright in between amy and mark, pulling his legs onto the couch and stiffening them between his thin arms as he rested his head on the back of the cushioned seat, avoiding eye contact.

"talk to us, bub. what's got you so upset?" amy hummed, her gaze forming into cotton towards ethan. he picked at the loose skin on his bottom lip using his teeth, thinking of how to explain how he was feeling without actually having to say it, not because he didn't want to, rather because he didn't know how to. "no, none of that, now, you'll start bleeding," mark let the words roll out of his mouth in a mellow manner. "but if you don't feel like talking, don't feel pressured to, okay? we just want you to talk to someone, even if that someone isn't me or mark." amy added, adjusting her legs under the fleece blanket that they kept folded upon the couch. "right," mark began, "we just think it would be best if you didn't keep all of those nasty emotions inside, alright? that could make you feel worse down the road." he finished, smiling with empathy for the kid.

ethan inhaled sharply, allowing his small chest to rise, and fall once he exhaled, "no, i can talk, i can talk," he clarified, voice mumble - y and foggy, "it's just that - sometimes i think that - whenever - whenever -" ethan found himself getting frustrated with his inability to talk normally. "hey, don't worry eth, take your time." mark gestured in patience. "sometimes i just think that no one really wants me."

mark and amy jerked their heads at each other, almost as if they shared the same train of thought at that moment, "where on earth did you get that idea, ethan?" mark questioned in a demanding, yet worrisome attitude, completely taken aback by what his godson had said. "like you know how sometimes i'm not good?" ethan barely took a breath in between sentences, "i just feel like i'm bothering everyone. like, nothing i do is good enough. i'm not good enough... sorry - i don't know it's just that - when my teachers yell at me in front of my other classmates about how disrespectful and stupid i am, it makes me think i'm actually stupid, like everyone would just be better off if they didn't know me,"

"breathe, eth -"

"and the bad grade!" ethan flailed his arms a bit, not giving a care that he was beginning to let his own dejection control him, "i worked so hard on that! you don't understand - i was so proud of how hard i worked and i still got the lowest grade in the class and now i feel like i've let you down and i can't do anything right and i'm not worth being proud of and everything i do isn't worth anyone's time because a five year old could probably do a better job then me and i'm so sick of feeling like i'm not good enough and now i know that i most likely don't deserve to be treated so kindly by you guys because eventually i'm going to make you end up regret adopting me some how and i'm so - i'm so afraid that one day you guys will end up seeing me the same way my teachers do or the way that i do and -"

"ethan." mark stopped him, he couldn't bare to listen anymore. his heart felt sore, like someone had ripped it out of his chest and attempted to put it back in the wrong way, "there is absolutely nothing on god's green earth that would ever make amy and i regret having you in our lives." mark rested a hand on ethan's shoulder and let his legs fall off the couch as amy nodded in agreement with her boyfriend, "mark's right. we love you, eef. and we're /proud/ of you." mark grinned, moving his hand up to move a piece of hair off of ethan's forehead, "so gosh darn proud." the dad swiped his thumb under ethan's eyelash, collecting a warning tear as he continued to praise his son, "you aren't stupid or disrespectful in any way, shape or form. you're smart, eth. i know it. amy knows it. you just need a bit of a push. just like - on a swing! you can't get serious air time without a little help from someone else, right?"

the boy in question smiled at that analogy, pressing his lips together and huffed an itty bitty portion of air out of his nose as a form of understanding, trying to take in everything they were saying, slowly loosening the tension in his jaw and body.

"and you are good enough. you are more then good enough, bud. you bring us so much joy and laughter. this house would be so empty and sad without you in it. you are such a gift to us, ethan." amy tucked her hair behind her ear and put her hand back on ethan's thigh, carrying on with the circular thumb movement.

the two stayed silent for a moment, allowing ethan to wrap his mind around everything. he shifted uncomfortably for a moment, matching amy's sitting position by criss crossing his lower limbs, letting his right knee fall onto mark's left one.

mark's brain sprinted wall to wall, deciding to speak up:

"ethan your parents would be so fucking proud of you."

this was enough to push eth over the edge, feeling a familiar sting in his nose and eyes. amy pulled him in quickly, granting him permission to cry into her shoulder. mark scootched towards the center couch, pressing a light and comforting kiss to the back of ethan's head.

the boy pulled back, lip still quivering uncontrollably, "i'm sorry. i'm really sorry if this is too much." mark cocked his head, noticing how ethan stared straight ahead at the TV, "eth, look at me," he did, "you have no reason to be sorry. you are safe here. amy and i are always here for you, to listen to you. don't ever think for a second that you're being too much."

another minute of sniffling and silence passed before ethan decided to say something, "thanks." he implied quietly, looking between his godparents, "of couse, bub, anytime." amy spoke, her smile obvious in the way she talked, eyebrows rising ever so slightly.

"was there anything else you wanted to talk about?" mark asked rhetorically, knowing something else was on eef's mind by the way he kicked his heels against the base of the couch.

"can we... maybe watch into the spiderverse? i heard it's on netflix."

and thus they did. amy sprawled out across one end of the couch whilst ethan snuggled between the back of the couch and amy's right side. mark, along with both dogs, had joined them after ordering pizza.

all three sat in happy stillness as the movie played at a decent volume and the sun began to set and dim the room around them.

ethan felt okay again.


	4. too old for fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is meant to display an accurate depiction of major life affecting phobias and positive family support throughout the process. take this as a reminder that panic inducing fears are NOT meant to be sugar coated and can be very serious in a lot of circumstances. anyways, enjoy the fic. read with caution.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter takes place after the february 2017 charity live.

to ethan, hearing thunder in teenage years played the equivalent to being a child and hearing about the big bad wolf in fairy tales. he despised storms. not only for what they were, but how they made him react. he found it pathetic that any ground - quivering noise could make his body tremble, that whenever any remotely harsh weather occurred, there was a slow build up to his ears flooding with the sound of his own heart beat. almost like a giant, intimidating roller coaster that your friends forced you to ride, in some aspects. the ramp up, the anticipation for it to be over, to have your peers joke about how you over reacted, about how big of a bitch you are, about how you act like a child. and dammit, ethan was sick of feeling like a child. nothing seemed to strike his nerves more than his own immature response to overwhelming sounds. it's not like he could help it, though. it's not like he could flick a switch and make his phobia go away. that's just the way he worked, and he had to deal with it. though, ethan thought the worst part of it was that he didn't have a reason to act the way he did. his parents rarely, if never yelled or screamed at him directly, he was never medically diagnosed with any specific sensory sensitivity, and no one in his biological family, that he knew of, had hearing problems. usually, he would absolutely love to be able to explain why his body grimaced at storms, nonetheless he just couldn't. ethan wished he could enjoy the sound of rain like mark and tyler, but that wasn't an option. he had to live with waiting it out... and he fucking hated it.

the three boys were currently watching the spongebob movie. after the live stream had ended, none of them had felt particularly tired, even if it was 11pm. ethan had suggested they watch the film during the spongebob gameplay, and although mark wanted to watch john wick 2, he wasn't one to deny his godson's request.

about less than a quarter into the movie, rain began to pitter patter aggressively onto the roof of the office. this caused ethan to short circuit, turning to stone in his seat, taking a moment to contemplate what the noise was and where it was coming from. once he realized it was only rain, he let his muscles relax a bit, resting his elbow on the arm of the couch and folding his legs into his chest. both tyler and mark had noticed ethan's state of brief, silent panic out of their peripheral vision, but chose not to say anything, knowing ethan well enough to remember that the youngest doesn't particularly appreciate confrontation, especially if it's something he's insecure about. the movie played a little longer, light, cloud - like laughter flowing throughout the room after every goof and gaff that patrick or squidward brought to the table. and, as rain comes, thunder does too.

"/fuck/," ethan gasped, almost utterly inaudible. his entire body experienced a spasm as he involuntarily dropped his phone and nearly tipped over the lamp on the side table next to him. his eyes slammed shut immediately after nature's choice to cause commotion. a few seconds passed before ethan began to ease up, slowly opening his eyes, bracing in case it were to happen again.

mark jerked his head at the sudden movement, "you alright?" he asked, concern and protective instinct overruling his tone, moving his arm to where it was placed on top of the couch behind the youngest. ethan returned to his original position and clenched his teeth, which made his jaw stick out more than usual, "yeah, fine." he answered peeved, gluing his eyes to the TV. mark furrowed his eyebrows, looking over at tyler, who was already fixated on ethan's behavior, "hey, eth?" tyler started, leaning forward to look past mark. "mhm?" the blue haired boy replied. "do you need anything?" tyler inspected cautiously.

ethan just about lost it, "jeez, guys! i'm fine! i'm fucking fantastic!" he slapped his pale hands to his forehead with unnecessary aggressiveness and dropped them once more, choosing to stare at the TV rather than at the individual he had snapped at. ethan's input was conspicuously unstable, it would run out of pitch and/or crack every two to three words. this sign of anxious behavior triggered mark to revolve his neck rapidly in skepticism. everything omitting the television waved silent, scheid and fischbach both taking a millisecond now and again to inwardly check up on nestor-darling. it wasn't long until the next thunder strike hit, only this time, a flash of lightning came with it.

ethan didn't verbally express his recoil, yet he shook like an abandoned dog. he let his phone fall to his lap and kicked his sock covered feet up onto the black painted coffee table. mark bit his cheek, restricting himself from saying anything. the man /did/ place a solace hand on his godson's thigh, though. 

the boy's lungs and chest proceeded to pulse rapidly, whisps of air exiting his nose. and at some point, mark couldn't take it. he couldn't just sit there and watch his godson crumble like this. they'd had this situation happen before, he knew how much panic rose to ethan's head while downpours deluged, he knew how shook up ethan could get in the aftermath of these types of things. as a result of this, he also knew that if ethan couldn't have an outlet to spill his emotions, hellfire would rain. 

mark looked to his right towards tyler, "hey pause the movie," as tyler reached for the remote, mark shifted his attention towards eth, "hey," the fearful boy felt his breath quaver as he semi-circled his neck to lock gaze with his godfather, "ethan, you're not okay."

the 15 year old quivered his lip, almost unnoticeable if you weren't showing surveillance. ethan practically melted sideways onto mark's lap, pulling his legs into his own stomach.

"c'mere, you're alright. you're safe. it's okay, it's all okay." mark brought ethan up to where the oldest was hugging the younger ones torso, supporting his back with one arm and wrapping the other one around ethan's abdomen. ethan folded his lower limbs upwards, knees pointed towards the ceiling and head against mark's chest.

tyler crouched in front of the couch beside ethan, crossing his arms on the edge of the cushion, "hey, eth, you need anything?"

"will you just grab him a glass of ice water real quick?" mark requested, moving a hand up to ethan's hair and running his fingers gently through all of it, applying soothing pressure to his scalp. he'd done this before, he knew what he was doing. mark would call himself a professional if you asked him.

"yeah absolutely." tyler rushed off to the office kitchen forthwith.

ethan heaved, choking out dry breaths as his head spun with all of the ways that this weather could lead to something lethal. hot breath pouring from ethan's strained throat emitted onto mark's chest, yet, he didn't quite care all that much. his main focus at that moment was making sure ethan didn't fall unconscious, "you're safe, cubby. it's alright. i'm here, you're in the office, on the couch, with me. you're safe right here. you are safe, ethan." mark remembered to toss ethan's comfort nickname in there.

tyler entered the main room once more, placing the glass down softly onto the coffee table. ethan's entire body shuddered with trepidation, arms and legs convulsing every other second. there wasn't much to be done at this point, waiting was about all they could do. so tyler and mark sat, petting and massaging ethan's shoulders, back, hair, etc. they only wanted eth to feel safe.

they didn't care how long it took. they didn't care that the movie was paused. they didn't mind the echoing sound of deep coughing. it didn't matter to them. ethan's state of mind was what mattered.

to tyler? ethan was the closest to platonic they could get. they were best friends, and tyler would truly do anything for his buddy.

to mark? ethan was his boy. sure, not by blood. but when you've had a kid in your life since he was 7, you've watched him grow to be the person he is, you've sacrificed sweat and tears for him, you've laughed with him through everything, you got him through his first heartbreak, you've given him the sex talk, and now you're sat having to watch him have a phobia attack over something that you know for a fact is causing him so much pain? the thought of genetics doesn't even cross your mind. ethan meant so much to mark. no matter how big ethan got, he was always mark's little boy.

"cubby, you're gonna have to breathe, alright? i need you to try and breathe for me. in and out, breathe with me, okay?" mark began as ethan rocked back and forth to the point of almost rolling off the couch, despite his state, though, ethan dropped his ear against mark's chest, attempting to match their breathing patterns.

this didn't help anything, though. it only made ethan further aware of his breathing. this caused a rush to his head resulting in nausea, "mark, mark i feel sick." at last, he spoke up, a numb tingle crawling his shoulders and face.

"do you feel like you're gonna puke?" the godfather questioned, stopping his hand mid - hair run. "i don't think so, it just - it just hurts."

"mm, i see." mark understood, partially cradling the boy. ethan groaned, fear dulling down, but queasiness growing stronger.

"fuck, mark it hurts," ethan strained, folding his arms over his stomach and falling left, letting his entire body relax for the first time in the past hour. the tense feeling in his chest was ultimately beginning to drown in the feeling of mark's fingertips running lines down ethan's semi - sweaty back. the cold heat felt as if it was a tightly enclosed crate that ethan had been stuffed in.

to ethan's bad luck, just as he started to come down from the over stimulation, the storm had to increase. however, ethan had been too physically exhausted to have any kind of exceedingly disquiet response, "you're kidding - you're kidding me you're fucking kidding me - quit - stop it." instead, he just mumbled into mark's chest, grasping the sides of his head so firm that his knuckles faded to a whitish - yellow hue.

mark and tyler quickly put an end to this, both grabbing one of ethan's hands and pulling them down benevolently, "don't do that, let's not do that. you'll injure yourself." tyler suggested, "you want some water now? do you think you're okay to have a couple sips? or do you wanna wait a bit?"

ethan slapped his knee, trying gather up what he wanted to say, "water - yeah that'd be nice." he sat up with struggle, sliding his legs back off the sofa, elbows to knees and hands to face.

tyler handed him the glass with caution, not looking to spill any of it. mark continued to rub gentle shapes on eth's back, wanting ethan to know he was still safe.

the blue haired boy took a few mouthfuls of the water, condensation dripping onto his dark jeans making even darker patches. 

mark took it upon himself to make sure ethan was alright, "you feelin' any better?" 

ethan stopped drinking to nod and catch his breath, "yeah," he gave a weak smile, "yeah i think i'm okay."

the two grown men let out a huff of relief... they did it. they got ethan okay again.

"that's great, you wanna keep watching the movie, or do you need some sleep?" tyler asked pitifully, finding his original position on the sofa.

ethan let himself drop back into mark's hold, "we can watch the movie."

and the movie they watched.


End file.
